Capital Repertory Theatre is now the official owner of 251 N. Pearl St., a warehouse about four blocks north of the company's longtime downtown home.

The sale of the building, formerly the headquarters of Gomez Electrical Contracting, was finalized Friday morning, said Philip Morris, CEO of Proctors in Schenectady, parent company of Capital Rep. The price was $350,000, Morris said.

Plans to buy the building were announced earlier this summer after several years of scouting possible locations for a new performance home. Capital Rep decided it will for the foreseeable future stay in its 111 N. Pearl space, where it has been since 1981. The 30,000-square-foot Gomez building will be used for construction and storage of sets and other technical and production needs.

Morris previously has said the potential remains to relocate the theater there, but that would be a multiyear, multimillion-dollar project.

"One of the considerations in the acquisition is that it has the possibility of being a location for the theater," Morris said in August.

The three-story Gomez building is sufficiently large to allow for a 300-seat theater with unobstructed views, lobby, café, offices and more, in addition to production facilities. Another advantage is that Capital Rep already owns a vacant double lot a block away, at Broadway and Livingston Avenue, that in theory could be developed, with a partner, into a building with ground-floor retail and 10 apartments. Union contracts require the company to provide housing for out-of-town actors, most of whom are based in New York City.

Among the concerns Morris outlined for the Gomez building becoming the site of a new theater are parking; a full assessment of the building's benefits and drawbacks, including the possible presence of asbestos, lead and other hazardous materials and environmental considerations; projected costs; and potential for fundraising. Should all of the matters be satisfied, Morris said earlier this year, the cost would be $6 million to $7 million, not including development of a new building for housing.

The current theater is in a former supermarket space under a parking deck. It has a variety of problems and challenges, including a basement prone to flooding, a deteriorating structure and lack of on-site rehearsal and production facilities. Production had long been done in space rented from The Egg, but security at the Empire State Plaza and other considerations made the arrangement a challenge, Morris said. Equipment has already been moved to the Gomez building, and sets for Capital Rep's first fall production, the adult comedy "Sex with Strangers," due to open later this month, will be built at 251 N. Pearl, Morris said.

Capital Rep considered buying and renovating 111 N. Pearl, but the owner, developer Herb Ellis, also owns a number of other nearby downtown buildings that he would like to sell as a package, and he and Capital Rep have been unable to work out a deal to separate the theater property. Capital Rep will continue to lease 111 N. Pearl from Ellis for a nominal fee, Morris said.

Capital Rep in recent years had discussed launching a $4 million capital campaign to renovate the building, but that would be contingent on control of the property, Morris said. The company has no plans to significantly invest in a building it doesn't own, Morris said.